Spencerville Covered Bridge

Built in 1873 after DeKalb County commissioners hired Auburn engineer John A. McKay and contracted the Smith Bridge Company, the Spencerville Covered Bridge (also called the Coburn Bridge) spans the St. Joseph River on the edge of Spencerville, DeKalb County's first white settlement. Though often described simply as a Howe truss, it is technically a Smith Type 4 truss, a Howe-truss variant patented by the Smith Bridge Company of Toledo, resting on concrete piers with a center support added later for reinforcement; it is one of only six Smith trusses surviving in Indiana. Sources differ on its exact length: the NRHP nomination and county commissioners' records cite 146 feet, while the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges and Wikipedia's statewide bridge list give 160 feet. The bridge historically improved access to Spencerville's grist and sawmills and remains DeKalb County's last covered bridge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 2, 1981, and was later named a priority repair project in the 2021 federal infrastructure proposal. After failing inspection due to water-damaged timbers, it closed for restoration from October 2018 to June 2021, reopening after a community fundraising campaign. Now bypassed by a modern road but still open to light traffic, it draws an estimated 100,000 visitors annually.